The National Parliamentarian‘s Council
recently helped to undertake this year‘s
National Target State Program. The program consists of contacting inactive
FBLA chapters across the nation, attempting to help them restart their
FBLA chapters. Each council member
was assigned approximately 50 chapters
to contact. In addition, the council is
continuing its endeavors to compile a
comprehensive meeting skills resource
kit which should be available on
www.fbla-pbl.org in the upcoming
months. Finally, the NPC is continuing
to release monthly newsletters which will
allow parliamentarians and even members across the nation to follow the proceedings of the council. The NPC is seeing fantastic progress and it appears that
this will be a successful and productive
year!

With the holiday season just behind us, many of you
are probably working on your New Year‘s resolutions.
You may have resolved to read more books, to exercise more regularly, or to procrastinate less. You may
even have resolved to become more involved with
parliamentary procedure – and if you didn‘t, it‘s not
too late!
I challenge you to make this year more fair and efficient for the FBLA members you serve with parliamentary procedure. With this January issue of Call to
Order, you have everything you need to get started.
And as always, please don‘t hesitate to contact me at
fblaparl@fbla.org if you have any questions.
Best wishes,

I‘ll be the first to admit it: teaching your
peers about parliamentary procedure can be
challenging. If you‘re looking for a new approach, you might want to consider working
with a member of the National Association
of Parliamentarians (NAP).
When I interned at the NAP Convention
this past October, countless NAP members
expressed to me how much they enjoyed
working with students. I have no doubt that
a member would love to come speak as a
guest at your high school or invite your
chapter to one of his/her NAP meetings –
it‘s just a matter of getting in contact with
your local NAP chapter.

Working with fellow NAP Convention interns from HOSA, BPA,
FCCLA, and PBL

You can use this link to find the chapter
nearest to you: http://parliamentarians.org/
napinyourarea.php. If your local chapter
doesn‘t have a website, try contacting the
state chapter first. Sending an email to the
listed contact would be a perfect first step in
arranging a visit. If interning at the NAP
Convention also sounds interesting to you,
feel free to shoot me an e-mail at fblaparl@fbla.org!

-Nadine Goldberg

Want issues of “ Call to Order” sent
straight to your inbox?

You want to get more involved in FBLA and you‘re
interested in Parliamentary Procedure, otherwise you
wouldn‘t be reading this newsletter. Why not try running for office? If you are passionate about Parliamentary Procedure and FBLA, ready to make a difference,
and willing to take on the responsibility, then it‘s time
you ran to be a local or state Parliamentarian! Some
tips on how to run for office are listed below.
Note: In some states, the position of Parliamentarian is not
determined through elections.

1. Have Original Goals
People who are truly passionate about Parliamentary
Procedure and are serious about making change happen won‘t give overused goals. Wanting to increase
awareness about Parliamentary Procedure is great, but
what else do you want to do? Bring something new to
the table and let everyone see that you have seriously
considered how you would impact FBLA as local or
state Parliamentarian. Set your sights on not only improving the Parliamentary Procedure aspect of FBLA,
but also the organization itself.

2. Engaging Your Audience
You have 2-3 minutes to present yourself in front of

your audience, so make them count. Since members
congregate only at conferences that are held periodically throughout the year, most people will not know
you. Unless they take the time to visit your campaign
booth, this is your only time to win their vote. Use a
witty catch phrase or slogan and make your speech as
engaging and powerful as possible.

3. Choose Campaign Manager Wisely
The bulk of your campaign preparations will happen
before the conference. You must decide on your
speech, the number of brochures and fliers to print,
what designs to use, what giveaways to offer, and
more. Your campaign manager provides an integral
voice in each of these areas and gives you valuable
critique that will make your campaign all the better.
When choosing your campaign manager, ask yourself
if he has a good eye for detail. Is he capable of giving
unbiased critique? Does he have experience in marketing people or products? There are many more factors to picking the perfect campaign manager, so
choose wisely!

Any NPC member is willing to give more advice on
how to run for office, so please don‘t hesitate to initiate communication!

-Janet Chu

I conducted an interview with National Executive Parliamentarian Roopa Shankar. Roopa is like the "glue" of our council; she
assists Nadine in making sure all of our duties are accomplished,
compiles and designs our monthly newsletters, checks all parliamentary procedure resources created, records and distributes minutes for all meetings of the NPC, and more. Feel free to e-mail
Roopa at roopashankarr@gmail.com with any questions!

-Rachel Ford
What is the name of your chapter?
Lynbrook High School FBLA
What offices do you hold in FBLA?
Lynbrook FBLA Co-President
California State Parliamentarian
National Executive Parliamentarian
What inspired you to be on the NPC?

What has FBLA done for you?

When I first started competing in parliamentary procedurerelated competitive events my sophomore year, I immediately fell in love. Following on the parliamentary procedure
competition pathway, I then decided to run for California
State Parliamentarian with the central goal of spreading parliamentary procedure awareness. The NPC would give me
the opportunity to build resources and promote via a national platform, which I was so eager to do.

FBLA has been the greatest growth experience
for me. I started out my high school career as a shy, nervous freshman but as FBLA provided me with leadership opportunities and endless networking experiences, I found myself developing into the confident
leader that I am today. FBLA has brought to me an immense amount of happiness, and I absolutely and
wholeheartedly believe that it was and is still FBLA that shapes and molds me into the kind of leader, and
more importantly, person I want to be. In terms of parliamentary procedure, I love how seemingly complex
it is but how undeniably applicable the subject matter is to everyday business meetings. It's all about extracting the main principles and ideas from parliamentary procedure and implementing those principles to your
meetings. Learning about parliamentary procedure will enable us to revolutionize the world of business

The motion Amend is the second lowest ranking
Subsidiary Motion, and can have many different effects on the motion it is applied to. To amend means
to change a motion, and there are many different ways
to do so. There are three main ways to amend a motion, all of which have their own unique effects on the
motion it is applied to. A majority vote is used to
adopt amendments, regardless of the vote required to
pass the main motion. Amendments are also debatable
unless the motions to which they are applied to are un
-debatable. Up to two amendments can be pending on
a single main motion at the same time. The first is the
primary amendment and the second is the secondary
amendment. The secondary amendment is always
voted on first. The way to properly move a motion to
Amend is to say ―I move that this motion be amended
by…. (insert type of amendment).‖ Let‘s
look at this example.
The motion – ―I move that our chapter go caroling throughout the community and provide hot chocolate for spectators.‖
The first way to amend a motion is by
inserting or adding words. Words can be
inserted in the middle of a motion or
added at the end of the motion. This is
perhaps one of the more basic amendments, but it can still have a drastic change on the
question. For example, an amendment could be to add
―who give donations.‖ You would state the amendment as ―I move that this motion be amended by adding ‗who give donations.‘ The amendment would be
debated and voted on. If the amendment passes, then
the amended main motion is stated and voted on.

The question would
now read: ―We have our chapter go caroling
throughout the community and provide hot chocolate for spectators who give donations.‖ This is a
perfect example of an amendment by inserting or
adding words.
A second way to amend a motion is to strike out
words. This amendment is as basic as it sounds. In
our original example let‘s strike out the ending ―and
provide hot chocolate for spectators.‖ You would
state the amendment ―I move that this motion be
amended by striking out ‗and provide hot chocolate
for spectators.‘ The amendment would be debated
and voted on. If the amendment passes, then the
question would read: ―We have our chapter go caroling throughout the community.‖ This is a very basic
look at amending using strike out.
The third way to amend is to strike
out and insert or to substitute. Substitution is usually reserved for replacing entire paragraphs. The amendment to strike out and insert could be
used as such; ―I move that this motion be amended by striking out ‗hot
chocolate‘ and inserting ‗apple cider.‘‖ If the amendment passes, then
the motion reads: ―We have our
chapter go caroling throughout the
community and provide apple cider for spectators.‖
With these examples I hope amend becomes an easier motion for you to use in your arsenal of Parli Pro
knowledge. If you have any other questions, feel
free to contact me at wifblaparliamentarian12@gmail.com!

-Caleb Goodness

Jim Slaughter is an attorney in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is a Professionally Registered Parliamentarian with the National Association of Parliamentarians and a Certified
Professional Parliamentarian-Teacher with the American Institute of Parliamentarians.
He is one of only a handful of parliamentarians with the level of accreditation he possesses.
Some rules are made to be broken—especially when
they aren‘t really rules in the first place. The same errors are
often made by different chairs, at different meetings, in different associations. Such mistakes are often the result of ―meeting
myths‖ that have taken on a life of their own. Things are done
a certain way either because ―they‘ve always been done that
way‖ or because they are ―supposed‖ to be done that way. Unfortunately, as the Porgy & Bess song says: ―It ain‘t necessarily
so.‖ What follows are ―meeting myths‖ that need to be put to
rest. If you can eliminate one improper practice a month over
the next year, your meetings will be faster, fairer and more effective.
Myth: “We Don’t Use Parliamentary Procedure.”
Whether you are aware of it or not, both your board meetings
and annual meetings follow parliamentary procedure. Courts
have held that all organizations are subject to the principles and
rules of common parliamentary law. In other words, boards,
committees, assemblies, and annual meetings must all observe
proper rules when meeting to transact business.
Many associations also adopt a rule that they will follow a particular procedural book, such as Robert’s Rules of Order, during
meetings. Members who act contrary to the rules they have
adopted can be held liable for their actions. As a result, ignoring or incorrectly applying parliamentary procedure can lead to
embarrassment and lawsuits.
Myth: Discussion First, Motion Later.
For groups following formal procedure, no discussion should
occur without being preceded by a ―motion‖ to take action. A
motion is a formal proposal for consideration and action. In
formal meetings, all items of business—whether a proposal to
construct a new building or to take a five minute break—are
initiated by proposing a motion.
Myth: The Maker Of a Motion Gets to Speak First & Last.
The maker of a motion has the right to speak first to a proposal.

After that, the maker has no more rights than anyone else with regard
to the motion.
Myth: There Are Too Many Motions In Parliamentary Procedure.
Granted, there are a lot of different motions. (RONR lists over 84
variations!) However, most business in meetings is accomplished
through the use of about a dozen motions.
The Main Motion brings business before the assembly and is permitted only when no other motion is pending. Many issues can be resolved with this one motion. If you like the proposal, speak in favor
of and vote for the main motion. If you dislike the proposal, speak
against and vote against the main motion.
Other motions regularly used in meetings include:
Amendment; allows changes to another motion by adding,
deleting, or changing words.
Refer – allows a matter to be sent to a committee to consider
and report back.
Postpone – delays consideration of a matter to a specific time
or date.
Limit Debate – places a limit on the time, number of speakers.
Previous Question – ends debate immediately.
Recess – permits a short break.
Adjourn – ends the meeting.
Point of Order – calls attention to an error in procedure.
Point of Information – allows a member to ask a question.
Division of the Assembly – demands a rising (but not
counted) vote after a voice vote.
Myth: Calling “Question!” Stops All Business.
The Previous Question (or motion to close debate) is regularly handled improperly. In some groups, a person simply yelling ―Question!‖
from the audience results in action. In other groups, the making of
the motion automatically ends debate. Both procedures are wrong.
The motion to close debate is just another motion. A person wanting
to close debate must be recognized by the chair. The Previous Question requires a second. While the motion to close debate is not debatable, a two-thirds vote is required. Only the assembly decides when
to end debate.

About The Presentations;
+1-hour lecture based workshops
+Content focused on different types of motions
+Created outlines for lectures that other students could
use to take notes with
+Utilized tests and quizzes the next day to go over
learned information
+Used mock procedures of a motion in several different
cases to show real world examples and keep listeners engaged

National Parliamentarian's Council January Newsletter

The second issue of Call to Order, the official National Parliamentarian's Council newsletter, is now available! Happy reading. -Compiled & designed by National Executive Parliamentarian Roopa Shankar.